a. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to methods and devices that can be used to determine the structure of long chain molecules, with DNA sequences being the preferred type of molecule. DNA and other long chain biomolecules contain sequences of individual units that are present in a sequence that can be read from one end to the other. The devices and methods of the invention employ detecting elements to elucidate the sequence of individual units, and in the case of DNA the nucleic acid bases present. With many multiples of the detection elements being placed on a single chip, the devices of the invention provide an economical, efficient, and robust method for determining the base pair sequence of DNA, for example.
b. Background Art
Currently, methods to sequence biomolecules are relatively slow, inefficient, and require estimations or approximations to complete actual sequences for large collections, like those in the genome of an organism. Nanochip designs have generally taken the approach of using nanopore sensors, employing three dimensional pores into which the DNA molecule is supposed to travel in order to be sequenced. Venkatesan, Nature Nanotechnology 6:615 (2011); U.S. Pat. No. 8,105,846. These devices are necessarily limited by the ability to reliably direct molecules through the nanopore or other opening and are subject to “clogging” or other drawbacks that prevent useful operation.
As the skilled artisan appreciates, improved methods that can determine the actual sequence of a biomolecule and report that sequence info in real time or near to real time from a detection system provides significant advantages over existing techniques.